Dr. Walton Hubbard, C.S.B., of Los Angeles, California
Member of the Board of Lectureship of The
Mother Church,
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts
The subjoined lecture, entitled "Christian Science: Its Healing Principle," was delivered in various Churches of Christ, Scientist, of Chicago and vicinity during the past two years by Dr. Walton Hubbard, C.S.B., of Los Angeles, California, member of the Board of Lectureship of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts. The lecture is reprinted from a previous issue of the Leader.
Christian Science has been defined by Mary Baker Eddy, its Discoverer and Founder, as "the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony" (Rudimental Divine Science, p. 1). It is my earnest hope that those of you who have come here to learn about it may be enlightened by that which is said, and that God's law may be interpreted to you so that you may begin to demonstrate its blessings. To those who have an understanding of Christian Science, who have perhaps progressed far along the way, may some word here spoken, some thought expressed, serve as a touchstone to unfold new spiritual vistas to you, and so to lead you nearer the goal of complete spiritual understanding and harmony. It is also my hope and expectation that those of you who have come here in the hope of healing may be healed, for the declaration of God's law not only interprets the rule but demonstrates it. Mrs. Eddy has said that "The spiritual power of a scientific, right thought, without a direct effort, an audible or even a mental argument, has oftentimes healed inveterate diseases" (Rudimental Divine Science, p. 9). So the word that is about to be spoken, accompanied as it is by both audible and mental argument, will bring about its rightful measure of healing.
Christian Science, the Science of Christianity, is rightly named. Its teachings explain the divine Principle of this Science, just as the teachings of mathematics explain the principle of numbers. Further than that, rules are provided for the application of Christian Science, so that it may be practiced, just as the science of numbers has rules for its application, for its practice. Moreover, the results which follow the practice of Christian Science the healing of sickness, the destruction of sin, the setting aside of material law prove it to be Science, and prove its Principle to be the Supreme Being, omnipresent and omnipotent good.
It is evident, then, that if we are to get these results, the important thing for us to do is to make every effort to widen our concept of the true nature of God to understand the healing and saving Principle. This may best be done by studying what others who knew God have said of Him, and by contemplating the divine nature by earnestly seeking to know Him.
Students of Christian Science very
soon discover that Mary Baker Eddy had a profound understanding of God. They
also find that because of this understanding she has revealed Jesus' teachings
to us in a new light that of the Christian Science which he taught.
All Christians agree that Christ Jesus understood God. Now Jesus taught what he knew in the synagogues, and to the people, and to his disciples. It is interesting to note how frequently the Bible states that he "taught" the people. In fact, he himself declared that he "sat daily . . . teaching in the temple." And when they marveled at what he taught, he said, "If any man will do his [God's] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Thus, he declared that if any man put into practice what he taught, the results would prove the teaching to be correct. Throughout the Gospels in Jesus' recorded sermons or dissertations he discussed the nature of God. To the Samaritan woman he referred to God as Spirit and as Truth. He taught that God is Life, and in the latter days of his ministry he argued earnestly with his disciples that they might gain a larger realization of God as Love. He explained God, and man's relationship to Him, to all with sufficient spiritual receptivity to receive it. Our understanding of what Jesus taught about God, the divine Principle, is wonderfully increased by comprehending what Mrs. Eddy understood about God. Her teachings not only reveal God in His true nature, as she understood Him, but the theology of Jesus is revealed and becomes practical to us through these same teachings.
After the completion of Jesus'
ministry the disciples were obliged to demonstrate more fully for themselves
the truth about God and man which he taught them, because they were no longer
able to turn over any of their problems to his superior understanding. Indeed
Jesus repeatedly declared that the spirit of Truth would not come to them
except he went away. He pointed out to them that, after he had gone and was no
longer there to do the healing, that the Comforter, the spirit of Truth, would
come from divine Principle to them in larger measure and they would then forget
their sorrow at his departure for the joy of the realization of the
demonstrable power of the Christ which had developed in them.
Two thousand years have elapsed since Jesus preached and practiced his understanding of God and of mans relationship to Him. Encroached upon by materialistic beliefs, spiritual understanding was dimmed and spiritual healing was lost, until in our own time it has again been made available to us. And this has come about through the remarkable spiritual unfoldment which came to Mary Baker Eddy, and her ability to present this discovery in scientific form, so that it may be studied, and with rules by which it may be practiced, and so proved to be the Science of Christ to each one who demonstrates it.
A study of the lives of great men
will usually reveal that the various experiences and events which occurred to
them from childhood on were definite steppingstones leading up to the final
manifestation of greatness. Each experience brought out and developed the
qualities which were later manifested. These successive events were useful and
necessary experiences which helped to train the individual for his final work,
or which indicated his tendency and aptitude for it, long before this final
work appeared.
So it was in the life of Mary Baker Eddy. There are indications all along the way of her tendency and aptitude toward spiritual things. From girlhood she was a writer, and one whose contributions to newspapers and publications were accepted. Here then we have the ability to write and to express thought on paper which prepared Mrs. Eddy for the immense demand which was made upon her later on in the publication of her books. These early writings contained frequent references to God, which are evidence of the tendency Godward which she always manifested. We do not put God into frequent and daily expression unless we are thinking about Him. So Mary Baker Eddy thought about God, and talked about God, and searched for God from childhood.
As a child Mary Baker was delicate and developed into a rather frail woman. She suffered considerably from sickness, and was much of the time a semi-invalid. Thus she had need of health, and characteristically, she searched for it. This very need of health was no doubt a factor in the spiritual unfoldment which followed. She investigated homeopathy and other material methods in her search for healing, discarding them one after another as they failed to satisfy her thought or to permanently heal her body. Such beliefs might temporarily lead her to believe either in their efficacy, or their divine origin, but they could not long turn her aside or deceive her. It would seem natural that the desire to understand God which had been so evident in her thought from her earliest childhood, and the desire for health and strength which was an expression of her daily need, should be more or less merged in the conviction that Jesus' healing was the result of the application of spiritual law, and that to understand God and this law would again result in healing.
In her childhood and youth Mary Baker was an unusually good student. Not only was she educated in the more common branches of learning, but she studied natural philosophy. She also studied Hebrew and Greek under her brother Albert, who was a brilliant and profound student, a college graduate, and a young lawyer of unusual promise. His studious nature, in which his sister and he were alike, is indicated by his study of the Hebrew language during his vacations. It is probable that the knowledge of Hebrew and Greek which Mrs. Eddy acquired at this time was of great help to her in her study of the Scriptures.
Summing up some of Mrs. Eddy's outstanding characteristics, we find that from childhood she was a writer. That she was always a student, a philosophical and metaphysical student. That she was from early life a religionist, in its true spiritual sense, and that from young womanhood she was a constant searcher for the true method of healing. Coupled with these mental characteristics was a quality of fidelity of purpose so that she persisted throughout her life in anything she undertook. It is probable that the sicknesses, sorrows, and disappointments which she experienced helped to hold her more firmly still in the course which she pursued. The ultimate result of her searching was the discovery of the law of God, and the gradual unfoldment of Christian Science in her consciousness.
The Christian Scientist's gratitude to Mrs. Eddy increases as his growing spiritual understanding gives him greater dominion and frees him from material bondage. It would be impossible for one who really has some understanding of Christian Science to fail to express appreciation for the spiritual unfoldment which has come to him, because spiritual understanding is in itself so wonderful that the possessor of it cannot do other than express gratitude to the one who has enabled this wonder to be brought about. It is of course impossible for us to go through the experiences which were factors in the spiritual development of Mary Baker Eddy. We may not possess the natural spiritual tendencies and desires which animated her in the same degree that she possessed them. But there is in the consciousness of each of us a spiritual desire which can be awakened and which, when directed and developed through the teachings of Christian Science, will lead us out of a material sense of things and make available to us the eternal law of healing. Each one of us must approach God from the standpoint of his own individual experience, yet, each one to whom this unfoldment comes realizes with Isaiah that "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
The Principle of Christian Science is God, and God is divine Mind. He is Life, Truth, and Love. Principle is first cause. It is that from which all proceeds; that which produces and governs. In order to practice this Science, it is necessary to understand its Principle to realize in some degree what it means when we say that God is Mind, or that He is Life, Truth, and Love. What is the difference between the Principle and rule of Christian Science? According to Webster, "Principle emphasizes the idea of fundamental truth, or general application; Rule, that of more specific direction or regulation." A study of all the synonyms for God widens our understanding of the divine Principle of Christian Science and brings us under the beneficent direction and regulation of its rule.
The first requirement in the practice of Christian Science is complete reliance on God. This means the acceptance of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, and it therefore excludes any thought of medicine, or any other material remedy. This rule was advanced by Moses, in the First Commandment, and reiterated by Jesus when he asked which is the greatest commandment of all, declaring at the same time the second to be like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This rule is again repeated by Mary Baker Eddy in the Christian Science textbook, page 467, where she says, "The first demand of this Science is, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' This me is Spirit. Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second is like unto it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'" So the command really means that we are to undertake to realize our perfection as the children of God, and realizing it, we are to manifest it in all our ways.
Let us, then, expectantly declare
it. We are God's children. And because we are God's children, we are perfect in
form and function, and in every essential of our spiritual being and
individuality. Divine Love provides us with an abundance of all good. The
spiritual food which we need for our rightful nourishment is received by us
through spiritual channels, which are as perfect as the Principle which
provides them. We are spiritually clothed and fed, and we live, and move, and
have our being in the atmosphere of divine Love. We express the health,
strength, vigor, and agelessness of infinite Life; the beauty, comeliness,
grace, and goodness of infinite Love. We manifest the perfect and useful
activity of infinite Mind, and we radiate peace, joy, harmony, and love to all
the sons and daughters of God. Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of
himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise."
The great impediment to the successful realization of our at-one-ment with God, our real existence in divine Mind, is our belief that we are the offspring of matter, living in a world of matter, and that we are subject to the laws of matter. Christian Science, after declaring that Spirit is all, logically teaches that there is no matter. It declares all we see about us to be forms of thought, and false thought at that. At the time Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science and wrote of it, the smallest subdivision of matter was thought to be an atom. In one of her books, "Unity of Good," page 35, she says, "The material atom is an outlined falsity of consciousness." Thus she insists that an atom is a lie, and a lie is always mental. Of course it follows that what is true of an atom is equally true of an aggregation of atoms, a mass of matter. Today, material belief has in theory divided the atom into various and much smaller and less material forms. Yet humanly scientific thought is still unsatisfied and unconvinced that it has analyzed its belief in matter to its ultimate end. And well it may be, for when it does, it will find matter to be exactly what Mrs. Eddy declares it to be (Science and Health, p. 116), "nothing beyond an image in mortal mind."
We would find it very helpful in healing sickness and destroying error if we would stop viewing the things which we see around us as matter, and would view them as beliefs, mental counterfeits of spiritual realities. It is generally admitted that the various so-called material laws which we see in operation are mental, the law of gravity, the laws of cohesion and attraction, capillary attraction, and chemical affinities. As an example, we recognize in the growth and development of a tree that there are a host of mental laws in operation, and that the tree is the end result of the focusing together of these laws. Remove the laws of cohesion and attraction, and the tree would no longer hold together. Remove the law of chemical affinities and the tree would further disintegrate. Remove all the laws which are in operation in connection with the tree, and it would vanish. The tree is as mental as the laws which form it. In like manner all the objects of sense which we see around us, which we call matter, are unreal, false mental concepts.
The fact that all is Spirit and
spiritual, if clearly seen, would definitely determine matter to be unreal,
without any such argument as has been offered to prove its nothingness. But the
claim that matter is real and substantial is so insistent, that to recognize the
inconsistency of it, and its falsely mental nature, even when considered from
its own standpoint, enables us to see how readily its supposed laws may be set
aside when the laws of God are realized. On page 269 of the Christian Science
textbook Mrs. Eddy states that "metaphysics resolves things into thoughts,
and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul." The practice of
resolving all material things into thoughts has been of great help to me in
healing, for it has brought matter out from behind its false claim of substance
and power, into the realm of thought, where the falsity of its claims of
sickness and discord are more readily recognized and destroyed.
The healing of organic disease through Christian Science is of common occurrence. Such healings are not only a proof of the efficacy of spiritual law over the beliefs of matter, but they are also an evidence of the mental nature of matter itself. Let me relate an instance of healing which illustrates this point. But before doing this it might be well to tell you that I came out of the practice of medicine. For nine years I practiced medicine successfully, that is, I enjoyed a good practice. I merely tell you this because it is my intention to say something about drugs and germs and other medical beliefs, and it may be helpful for you to know that I am quite familiar with these subjects.
But to return to the instance of healing that was to illustrate the mental nature of matter. A woman of advanced years was suffering from pneumonia. Her physician said she had no more than a few hours in which to live. At this point the physician was dismissed and Christian Science treatment was given. The healing was immediate.
Now, a Christian Science treatment is a realization of infinite Truth. Therefore, it denies error. The process is altogether a mental one. From a consciousness of pneumonia, the woman became conscious that she did not have pneumonia. Through the power of right thinking, this disease was eliminated from her thought. All that had been done was to change her thinking; yet she no longer had pneumonia. For pneumonia to thus yield to the power of right thinking means that pneumonia was in her thought and that it is altogether mental. But pneumonia, according to medical belief, is a condition in which profound pathological changes have occurred in the tissues of the lungs. It is not a disease separate from the lungs. The lungs are therefore as mental as the disease. Since the lungs are mental the entire body must be mental, and a part of human consciousness. As stated by Mrs. Eddy (Science and Health, p. 293): "Matter and mortal mind are but different strata of human belief. The grosser substratum is named matter or body; the more ethereal is called mind. This so-called mind and body is the illusion called a mortal, a mind in matter."
The world of human thinking, believing the human body to be material, has searched diligently and is still searching in matter for remedies with which to cure the illnesses of the body. The fact that this search goes on, and new remedies are constantly brought forth, is evidence that no remedy is permanently effective. Each one has its day. Some investigator searching for a remedy for some diseased condition believes he has found it. With faith, and expectation he tries it, and the results seem to justify his faith. But when the remedy becomes more generally used and is administered by others with less expectation of results, the results become less and less satisfactory. Though unrecognized by the physician, it is the thought which accompanies the use of the drug which brings about the result, whether a good result through faith in its efficacy, or lack of result through doubt of its ability to cure. Thus the search for remedies began with vegetables and minerals and has now arrived at animal extracts and serums.
Not only is there a diligent search in matter for remedies with which to cure what it believes to be material ills, but likewise there is a continual search in matter to determine the cause of disease. Through the failure to recognize that there is no matter and that it is the human mind which is entertaining the belief of disease, the search goes on in the direct line of matter.
One of the beliefs that have grown in acceptance is that germs
cause disease. This theory was brought forth about the time of the publication
of the first edition of the Christian Science textbook. Microbes and germs were
not topics of daily discussion in that day, yet it is evident from the one
sentence in which these words appear in the present edition of the textbook,
how Mrs. Eddy classified them. On page 164, in speaking of doctors, she says:
"It is just to say that generally the cultured class of medical
practitioners are grand men and women, therefore they are more scientific than
are false claimants to Christian Science. But all human systems based on
material premises are minus the unction of divine Science. Much yet remains to
be said and done before all mankind is saved and all the mental microbes of sin
and all diseased thought-germs are exterminated."
The beliefs that are entertained regarding the germ theory are in the same process of change which goes on in everything connected with disease and its treatment. In the beginning it was contended that every contagious or infectious disease had its germ, but it has since been discovered that there are not enough germs to go around. So now it is maintained that some contagious diseases are caused by what is called a virus. Yellow fever is one of them. Fluid in which the contagious material is presumed to be present is filtered and all of the microscopic forms of vegetation called germs are left behind. The fluid thus filtered contains nothing that can be seen under the highest powered microscope. But it does contain the contagion. No one has ever seen it, but it acts contagiously. This unseen belief of fear is called a virus.
One of the most epochal and dramatic events in sanitary research was the discovery that the bite of a mosquito which had previously bitten a person suffering from yellow fever was followed by this disease. Remarkably enough, although there seems to be no comment upon it, the mosquito lived its allotted time of six weeks while harboring and developing this contagion, while the human being often succumbed to it very quickly. An article which appeared in a current magazine, written by a physician of note, describes this conquest of yellow fever, and points out that it was based on the proposition that yellow fever was conveyed from man to man by this mosquito alone. On the basis of this conviction many cities were rid of yellow fever. The results seemed conclusive. However, in 1928 there appeared in Rio de Janeiro four hundred cases of yellow fever, although the city was one of those that had been freed of yellow fever, and which had subsequently been kept free of mosquitoes. And then it was discovered that there was an immense back country filled with yellow fever where there were no yellow fever mosquitoes to transmit it.
No doubt thousands of lives have been saved through the belief that the destruction of mosquitoes would stop the course of yellow fever. Nevertheless, the greatest conviction that sanitary science has ever had, and one that had been thought to be so completely demonstrated as to leave no possible room for doubt, has been disproved, and the search for the method of transmission is again going on. In this particular instance it was not enough to be rid of mosquitoes. The disease had been experienced by millions of people. According to the writer of this article, tests showed that seventy percent of them had had it and had recovered. They believed in its symptoms, they believed in its periodicity, they believed in its contagiousness, and that is all that is needed to perpetuate belief of disease.
Some day when the world shall have advanced spiritually and when the law of God is more generally recognized, there will also be an increased knowledge of the human or mortal mind and its activities, and it will then be seen that yellow fever is mental. Then the realization of the mental nature of disease and the power of divine Mind to heal will rid the world of its miasmas, and we shall all look for healing where it may be found.
The germ theory has gradually extended itself until it includes all inflammations. Where a few years ago certain diseased conditions of the body were classified as inflammations, now the word most frequently used is "infection." This means that germs are said to be present and to be causing the trouble. Logically, if germs are present, they must come from somewhere, and so it is claimed that germs can and do gain ready admission to the body. Mortal mind believes that where there is inflammation there is a definite effort on the part of the body to get rid of the germs. But it also believes that there are certain microbes that gain entrance to the body against which the body makes no complaint. It accepts them and entertains them and makes no effort to be rid of them.
On every hand we are reminded that the germs will get us if we don't watch out. The articles we buy are said to be germ-proof or sterilized. The possibilities or probabilities are pictures of injurious results from getting germs on our feet, or germs on our hands, or germs in our noses. This insidious propaganda is presented to us through many human avenues. What shall we do about it? Let us declare our true status in divine Mind, and let us remember that the body is mental, that it is part of human consciousness. The realization that we are in reality altogether spiritual enables us to recognize with clearness that we can effectually prevent the entrance into human consciousness, or the growth in or upon human consciousness, of anything that is harmful and destructive. It is probable that germs have some good and useful place in this material sense of things, and that it is man who has sought out these elementary types of life called germs and microbes and through his material convictions has endowed them with power to harm. There is ample proof that the realization of the real man's freedom from germs and his inability to harbor them is a law which annuls germs within the body and excludes them from without. The realization that divine Mind governs the body closes every avenue through which germs may enter, and leave nothing within the body upon which they can subsist.
Great attention in recent years has been given to the question of food, its necessary constituents, its vitamins, and its poisonous qualities. It is contended that we need and must have a large number of alphabetically named beliefs called vitamins. Purveyors of foods tell the world that their products contain this or that essential vitamin. We are told that we must eat this food in order to get sufficient of one vitamin, and that food in order to get enough of another, yet a cow eating only grass gets enough of them all. The attitude of many people would seem to be that this mortal man is the only animal without enough sense to choose his food without the help of a dietitian. Yet in reality divine Love supplies us with an abundance of every good thing, and there is never a lack of those ideas which are vital to man's welfare.
From the search for food believed to be needful to man, the search has been carried over to a search for foods which might be harmful or irritating to him. So we are said to be allergic to this or that food. Foods that are suitable for one person are thought to be harmful to another, and the bondage to foods becomes greater and greater. Some vegetables are thought to be irritating when taken into the stomach, while others are believed to harm man if he so much as comes into their presence. One of the latter is poison oak. So strong a belief has been built up of its poisonous nature that human beings often suffer irritation by simply coming into its presence, yet goats eat it without harm. We should realize that the spiritual ideas which divine Mind provides for our sustenance are perfect and complete, and these man-made beliefs of harmfulness will then disappear. On page 442 of Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy declares, "Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man is clothed and fed spiritually." This temporary material food to which Mrs. Eddy refers, is neither deficient in vitamins nor any other essential quality, nor is it irritating or poisonous to us.
There is great need for the realization that God governs man, and that this government is expressed not only in individual freedom, but in collective freedom as well. The changes which are occurring in many nations and in different types of government indicate man's disappointment in government, and his effort to better it. The good in human thinking establishes its highest ideal of government, and provides what it believes to be safeguards against its destruction, but the evil in human thinking gradually finds ways of circumventing this ideal. Government, then, is the manifestation of the governmental ideal of the mass thought of the people. The realization, on the part of Christian Scientists, of the true concept of government by divine Principle uplifts the general consciousness of government. In the present trend, of which no one knows the outcome, the realization on the part of the Christian Scientist that God reigns, has a very definite effect. Isaiah declares; "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
Above the changing beliefs concerning health and harmony, individual living, and human government, the law of God remains unchanged. The Principle of Christian Science declared by Jesus is again made available to us. This spiritual understanding comes into human consciousness when we dwell upon the nature of God and recognize the perfection of His children. To understand Christian Science necessitates studying it. Yet the moment this study is begun it is possible to begin applying it.
Mrs. Eddy has pointed out the difficulty which she experienced in expressing spiritual ideas in language which had been developed to express a material sense of things. In order to express her spiritual thought, she found it necessary to give some word special significance, such as "mortal mind," "substance," "reality" and "unreality." Jesus also seems to have found it necessary to use certain words in a special way in his effort to teach the people the availability of God's law. The pronoun I, or Ego as the word appears in the Greek, was one of these words, and Mrs. Eddy has defined it in the Glossary of Science and Health, page 588, in part, as "divine Principle." Much light is thrown on Jesus' beautiful and scientific description of the bread of life, which is to be found in the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, by remembering this definition. Apparently Jesus also used the phrase "kingdom of heaven" in a special way.
A common Jewish method of teaching in that day was by parables. Jesus adopted this method when his direct teachings were misunderstood.
The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain a great many parables, while John's Gospel relates other phases of the Master's teaching. Many of the parables which Matthew records describe the "kingdom of heaven," and they either begin with the statement, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto," or the kingdom of heaven is referred to later on in the narrative. After the delivery of the first of these parables, the parable of the sower, the disciples asked him why he spoke in parables. He replied, "It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." The Bible records that from that time on Jesus in his public discourses spoke only in parables.
As Jesus used the term "kingdom of heaven" it seems to refer to a state of consciousness which is attained here and now through the realization of the power of Truth as demonstrated in Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health (p. 590) has defined the "Kingdom of Heaven" as "the reign of harmony in divine Science." To experience this reign of harmony it is necessary for us to understand the divine Principle, and to be able to so apply this understanding as to destroy inharmony of every sort. It is evident that he who understands the divine Principle and rule of Christian Science has entered into the kingdom of heaven. Among other things, Jesus pointed out that the kingdom is attained by those who accept the word, and understand it, and apply it, and bring forth fruit, "some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." He declared that those who accepted the law of God, who made earnest effort to enter the kingdom, would grow in understanding in the midst of the world's evil, until ultimately the righteous shall "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." He pointed out that the evidence of an understanding of divine Principle, infinite good, is in the ability to express it, and he insisted that Truth completely leavens human thinking and blesses those who possess it.
Today Christian healing as Jesus taught it is again practiced. The application of Christian Science not only heals our sicknesses, but it blesses us in all our ways. It destroys discords in business, in the home, and in our social relations. Its leavening influence changes our characters, lessening and finally eliminating unlovely qualities from our thought. Its healing influence is felt in everything that is unlike God. Mortal thought needs correction along many lines, and this correction can only come through the healing power of divine Mind. Mrs. Eddy has stated this fact very simply and yet logically and completely on page 270 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "Mortals think wickedly; consequently they are wicked. They think sickly thoughts, and so become sick. If sin makes sinners, Truth and Love alone can unmake them. If a sense of disease produces suffering and a sense of ease antidotes suffering, disease is mental, not material. Hence the fact that the human mind alone suffers, is sick, and that the divine Mind alone heals."
[Delivered in various Churches of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, Illinois, and vicinity, during the two years previous to publication and published in The Chicago Leader, March 1, 1940, as a reprint from a previous issue.]